High Times in the Low Parliament

Kelly Robson

2022 • 160 pages

Ratings13

Average rating3.3

Award-winning author Kelly Robson returns with High Times in the Low Parliament, a lighthearted romp through an 18th-century London featuring flirtatious scribes, irritable fairies, and the dangers of Parliament. “Funny, literally outlandish, and deeply relevant.”—Malka Older A Most Anticipated Pick for Autostraddle | LGBTQ Reads Lana Baker is Aldgate’s finest scribe, with a sharp pen and an even sharper wit. Gregarious, charming, and ever so eager to please, she agrees to deliver a message for another lovely scribe in exchange for kisses and ends up getting sent to Low Parliament by a temperamental fairy as a result. As Lana transcribes the endless circular arguments of Parliament, the debates grow tenser and more desperate. Due to long-standing tradition, a hung vote will cause Parliament to flood and a return to endless war. Lana must rely on an unlikely pair of comrades—Bugbite, the curmudgeonly fairy, and Eloquentia, the bewitching human deputy—to save humanity (and maybe even woo one or two lucky ladies), come hell or high water. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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Sahi

I don't know what exactly I was expecting from this. The author did mention that this features a stoner lesbian protagonist and that's exactly what we got. Lana loves flirting with every beautiful woman she encounters, is not interested at all in the scribing job she has been forced into, makes friends with a grumpy fairy and loves getting stoned. The story on the other hand is probably a satire on governments in general where politicians keep arguing with each other and not doing anything productive even when the country gets destroyed due to their inaction. I had fun while reading it but neither the characters nor the world are fleshed out too much, so it just ultimately doesn't leave much of an impression after we finish reading it.

August 5, 2022

Jordyn

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Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

High Times in the Low Parliament is an incredibly quick read. It's not even 200 pages, so you'll plow through this one if you're anything like me. So...did I like it? Yes, and no. It's kind of middling, for me. High Times in the Low Parliament is not a book that takes itself seriously. The main character, Lara, peddles and does drugs for most of the story, describing the hallucinogenic effects while dealing with what's going on plotwise. She's also frequently flirting with whoever is nearest to her. — Lara does nothing seriously the entire book. There's some rather funny moments, however — I caught myself laughing out loud a few times while I read.

But despite laughing, I think my struggle with this book is that I don't really understand what the point was. It's not really a feel-good story, it's not a love story, it's not a real “fantasy” — by which I mean there's no quest, no big baddie. And no, stories don't need a point to be worth telling, but at the end of this one I was just left a little aimless.

The world building done by Robson in High Times in the Low Parliament is fascinating. There are no men in the entire world presented in this novella. Children are conceived when a woman asks for blessing from the natal fairy. Women do literally everything else. I thought this was a unique aspect of world-building, but I'm not sure why this choice was made. Did men ever exist? I did wonder while I read, but answers are not forth coming in the text.

I think High Times in the Low Parliament was not really for me. I just didn't get it.